Costume fun… « The misadventures of Gina Garbero: a Single Girlie Urban Hipster Fashionista Socialite…

Costume fun…

I don’t know why I haven’t posted these before. I am selling the costumes now… or at least trying to. I will keep them if they don’t sell before Halloween but… Here is one of the outfits that I made for a roaring 20’s party.

So the story behind this dress… I went to a little costume shop here in Portland. It was downtown-ish on Hawthorne I think. Anyway, the lady was a Bitch! There isn’t a lot of costume rentals in Portland so I guess customer service isn’t really necessary. Bottom line, if you want to rent a costume in Portland, this is where you go. So I go in and I have to wait forever. When I finally do get into the back room, although they have rows and rows of costumes, it is pointed out that it is doubtful that they are going to have anything in “my” size. Said with quite a bit of irritation that a plus size woman would even think of trying to dress up, let alone be sexy for a costume party. The only dress they had that fit me looked like a falling apart circus tent that I could rent for about 75 bucks. Screw that!!!

So here’s the deal… before this costume, my mom always helped me with my sewing projects. They never really turned out that great either. I knew if this was going to work I had to take my time and really be careful and accurate!

I went to the fabric store and measured myself around. 60″ at the biggest spot. I chose the fabric for its draping-ness. Thick enough to hide my “imperfections” (A huge problem when I shop at places like torrid is the cheapness of the fabric shows every bump and clings to every ripple…. gross! You would think designers would have figured this out by now, seriously!). Anyway, I spend a lot of time looking and made some neat choices. The flippy black fringe, a trim to go over the top of it. Lots of neat details. It’s been a while but I think the whole thing cost me about 60 bucks. that included the pretty glass beads for my hair piece. (Totally worth it for a washable dress I can wear over and over at costume parties!)

How I made the dress:

I sewed 2 panels down the sides. I had to cover 60 inches so I used to pieces of fabric both 31″ wide to leave room for the seams. (The length is up to you, I made it so the fringe ended just above my knee but I tend to like things a little shorter.)
Hemmed the top and bottom.
Sewed on the top fringe.
Sewed the bottom layer of fringe on the hem then the top layer of the hem.
Sew over the top layers of fringe with the lace trim.
Make straps.
Have your roommate pin the straps in place where your bra sits. :0)
Sew the straps in place. (In hind site… if you do this before you sew on the fringe and trim it will hide the seams and you wont have to do it by hand or be neat about it…